Make completes straw bale agricultural faculty

Make Architects's straw bale building for the University of Nottingham

Source:
Make

[First look] Make Architects has completed this 3,100m² building on the University of Nottingham’s agriculture campus in the East Midlands built using straw bales

The ‘Gateway Building’ at Sutton Bonington is clad in four-storey high prefabricated panels which contain insulating straw bale stuffing.

The system cost a third of the price of a ‘typical high end unitised curtain walling system’ according to the practice.

The building hosts laboratories and offices and landed a an BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating for its energy efficiency.

Make partner Bob Leung said: ‘The straw was grown on the University’s farm just 200m down the road and our sub-contractor, Eurban, set up a “flying factory” close to site in order to create the panels there and then.

‘This natural, simple solution provides a fabulous juxtaposition with the high-tech research that actually goes on within the building itself.’

Tim Brooksbank, development director at the University of Nottingham added: ‘We had an exacting brief for this new building in terms of its cost and specification and are delighted with the finished building which has provided a state-of-the-art home for the School of Biosciences and the School of Veterinary and Medical Sciences.’

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